We All Hate Hypocrisy...Do We Hate It In Us?

    About a dozen years ago, a pastor-friend of mine made a dream hire. He was able to convince a young man to join him in a small town in Wisconsin as his assistant pastor. This young man had everything going for him on his resume. He had glowing references, a near 4.0 gpa from arguably the most respected Bible college (Moody) and seminary (Trinity) in the country. During his Moody years, he was so well thought of by his peers that he was elected student body president. In Seminary, he received multiple and prestigious awards. My friend hired him part time while he was still in seminary, and then full time after he graduated. I was happy for my friend and wondered how he was able to snag him.
    By all accounts, he was a hit in the church. He led worship, preached regularly, and in youth ministry was loved by both the students and their parents. He had a winsome personality and a great sense of humor. My friend trusted him completely. While visiting their church as a guest speaker, I told him (in front of my friend) that when he decided to look around, to call me. At the time was being courted by a nearby church of over 1,000 attendees to be the next senior pastor. I’m really glad that never happened, but I so feel for my friend.
    After serving together for 7 years, my friend was shocked when he learned this youth pastor had been having a four year affair with a girl in the youth group, beginning when she fifteen. This man was married and by this time, had six kids! The police were called (and rightly so), there was a criminal trial, headlines for months (in a small town), and you can imagine the damage to the cause of Christ! The guy was put in prison and just got out a couple of months ago.
    My friend called this last week. Another revelation in this guy’s past and now the headlines in this small town is that he’s been accused of, arrested for, and has confessed to also molesting two infant girls. Of course, he’s still being identified as the former youth pastor at my friend’s church. I’m heartbroken for all victimized, Jesus included (Matthew 25:40).
    How can this be? How can a guy who purported such a religious pedigree and spiritual demeanor stoop to such levels and cause so much damage?
    I guess, for starters, we have to admit that while we think we may be good at discerning hearts, we really can’t see what’s inside a person. Only God can do that. We get fooled all the time. I don’t know how often I hear it said about someone after an atrocious deed, “She seemed like such a good person, and so genuine.” But that’s something we just cannot know. Only God sees the heart. “The human heart is most deceitful and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I know! I, the LORD, search all hearts and examine secret motives” (Jeremiah 17:9, 10, NLT). This youth pastor looked and sounded so good on the outside...not so with his heart.
    But there’s something else in this for us. We have to constantly check our own hearts. Sometimes hearing stories like this cause us to feel better about ourselves because we haven’t done something that bad. But beware! Paul warned the Corinthians, “If you think you are standing strong, be careful, for you, too, may fall into the same sin” (1 Corinthians 10:12, NLT). You may not be prone to the exact sins others are, but we are all made of the same stuff, suffer the same depravity, and who knows what we may be capable of given the wrong circumstances.
    This is what David was getting to when he wrote, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you” (Psalms 139:23, 24, NLT). He knew, and probably taught his son, Solomon, the principle he recorded in his wisdom writings, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” (Proverbs 4:23, NIV). Jesus taught this principle as well, that our lives, our words, actions and choices, all flow from our hearts.
    I’ve always said, “There’s a little bit of hypocrisy in all of us.” Why do you think Jesus gave such strong words regarding hypocrisy. Those warnings were not just recorded for the Pharisees of the first century. That's for us to pay attention to as well. We all do and say things periodically that contradict our professed belief system. But that’s an indicator of where our hearts are. And another good reason to constantly look to the Lord to search our hearts and reveal those discrepancies, so that we can get back in harmony with our Creator and Savior.
    “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” (Proverbs 4:23, NIV).

Jesus, Religion, and YouTube

    The internet is a crazy thing. Do you pay attention to YouTube videos that take off? “Viral” they call it, when an amateur posts a video and it receives over a million views. Some videos that have gone viral have been “interesting” to say the least. From cute things that kids do, to spy videos of people fighting, crazy accidents, and funny animal stunts, viral videos run the gamut.
    But the latest one is the talk of the month. Jeff Bethke is a talented 22 year old amateur poet/rap musician. He’s been a follower of Jesus for about four years but grew up in a Christian church, pretending. Religion was a turn-off for him because he saw so much hypocrisy, and worse yet, got away with practicing it himself. Then he came to Christ.
    Many of us have had that experience. And so we wind up creating a dichotomy of Christ and religion (you’ve heard me say things like that––i.e. “Christianity is a relationship, not a religion.”) In my experience, I was turned off by the empty religion I saw in church growing up, but then was overwhelmed by the genuine faith I saw in the church that drew me to Christ, that I gained both a love for the church and a hatred for empty religion.
    So Bethke posted this rap song, entitled, “Why I Hate Religion But Love Jesus.” And talk about going viral. Over 100,000 views the first day! Now, in a week’s time, over 15,000,000 views! It is filled with a lot of really good observations and it hits empty religion, HARD! Trouble is, he not only blasted empty religion, he bashed all religion, saying Jesus and religion are on the opposite spectrum.
    Someone sent me the link the first day it was out…still under a million views. I responded, “Ya, I see where he’s coming from, but what do we do with James 1:27?
    You see the Bible doesn’t bash religion. Jesus attacked EMPTY religion. Religion, in and of itself, is a belief and practice that holds someone or something sacred. Without Jesus, and without grace, that almost always leads to lots of silly rules, animosity against those who hold different things sacred than you, judgmentalism, and lots of other things that Jesus openly condemned. But when Christ is the object of our worship and we have a full understanding of grace, our religious practices come out in a God-honoring way. Listen to Jesus’ half brother James: “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you” (James 1:27 NLT). So according to the Bible, it’s not religion that is to be hated, it’s the misuse of it.
    I know that Bethke was talking about empty religion in his rap. And I appreciate his criticism when we understand where it was directed. My concern is that words have meaning. And in the poem, it almost sounds like there is nothing good about church or church people. I don’t think he meant it that way, I think he is a good, honest, and godly young man, who wanted to identify with the millions of people who are kept from Christ because of hypocrisy they see among religious people, and I commend him for that. I’m hoping and praying that that is the affect of those 15 million views (and counting) and that many will seek out Jesus and His Gospel of Grace because of it.

How Will You Respond?

    Things are pretty tense in Korea right now. Since the death of North Korea’s dictator, Kim Jong Il a few weeks ago, and his son, Kim Jong-un (in his late 20s), assuming the role of supreme commander, South Korea is understandably concerned about the near future. There has never been a peace treaty agreement between North and South Korea since the Korean War in the early 50s, and North Korea has amassed over a million soldiers along the demilitarization zone.
     My two sons and I visited Korea

three years ago and made the short trek north to the demilitarization border at the furthest point civilians were allowed (Dorasan Station). I was surprised how, at that time, South Koreans were nervous of the real possibility of an imminent invasion being threatened by their one-time countryman. They were already then convinced that war could break out at any time. Now, with a new dictator in place, a young man with whom they have little familiarity, they are concerned all the more. And they are getting prepared.
    Training for special forces along the border is so intense that they are conducting exercises shirtless in the bitter cold winter, wanting to be ready for anything. Commander Choi Ik-bong of the special forces said, “Our members are holding this drill to be able to survive in the enemy's camp, overcome freezing cold weather––20 degrees below zero in the mountain area––without any help from our army. They train as if it is a real battle and they will fight in a battle as if it's a kind of training.”
    The best preparation for any battle, whether it be military, athletics, or more importantly, spiritual, is to practice real situations before they are encountered, so that the your response is automatic. It’s far better to think through how you will handle something, and practice handling it that way over and over (even if in your mind), so that in the heat of battle, you don’t have to think about it, you just do what you had decided ahead of time to do, automatically.
    Many of us gave into peer pressure when we were teenagers because we found ourselves on the spot, not sure how we should respond. Linda and I used to ask our older two kids, and now our one teenager at home, what they will do in certain circumstances. It’s good to run young people through hypothetical situations before they face real challenges, so that they immediately know what they should do. Being "battle ready" means knowing how you are going to respond.
    Daniel did that. He was a young man who faced incredible temptation while being surrounded by intense peer pressure. But when facing it, he didn’t have to think about what he was going to do. He had already made up his mind. Daniel 1:8 says, “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself…”
    The South Koreans are readying themselves because they know an attack is imminent. Sure, it may never come, but how foolish would they be if they were caught unprepared, knowing the possible danger they are in?
    For us, we don’t need to think about, “What if the attack never comes?” We know it will, there is no doubt. Temptations, spiritual attacks, pressure from the world, our own fleshly desires, and the evil one, are constantly threatening. Are you prepared? Are you in the Word? Are you spending committed time alone with the Lord? Have you made up your mind ahead of time how you will respond?
    I’m not advocating rolling around in the snow with your shirt off. (And I’m not going to do that either.) But be prepared. Your adversary, the devil, is real, he is out there, and he is attacking. Don’t let him catch you off guard!

How About This Carrot?

    Sixteen years ago, Lena Paahlsson, of central Sweden, lost her wedding ring. All wives become distressed when their wedding ring is missing (at least those who are happily married). For Lena, this was of special concern since she had designed the ring and had it custom made. It was a beautiful white gold band with with seven diamond studs embedded.
    She had taken the ring off in her kitchen while baking Christmas cookies, and it disappeared. All garbages were searched. The plumbing was taken apart. They even redid their floors in hopes of finding it in the floorboards. But all to no avail, all hope was lost.
    Late last summer, while harvesting carrots in the garden, she saw something encircling a carrot she pulled out of the ground, something glimmering. Believe it or not, it was her lost wedding ring! Here it was, out in the garden, brought to the surface by a carrot!
    Lena and Ola believe the ring had gotten mixed in with compost that was taken out to feed the pigs (the garden is now in what had been the pigs feeding area). The pigs went through the food, but had no interest in gold and diamonds. It lay in the soil for sixteen years until miraculously found by the original designer and owner.
    You may feel a little like that ring. It was mixed in with garbage and thrown out to the pigs. Maybe you feel that way. But the ring didn’t stay in the dirt. Today it is cleaned, re-sized, and proudly displayed by Lena as a symbol of her marriage.
    God does some amazing things to rescue His treasures, and you are one of His treasures. He doesn’t want you wallowing in pigs’ compost, or relaxing in a garden, for that matter. He wants you fulfilling the purpose He designed and created you to fulfill. He wants to display you as one of His treasured works of art.
    I guess you could say that the cross is your carrot. Jesus said He came to seek and to save that which is lost (Luke 19:10). That means you. Trust Him with your life. He can shine you up and make you sparkle…and better yet, useful to His enjoyment and your good!